Should OKC Thunder Move Ousmane Dieng to Open Roster Spot?

The Oklahoma City Thunder have had a quiet offseason, but they could still make a key decision.

Since winning the NBA title, things have gone quite smoothly in Oklahoma City. Set to enter next season as championship favorites again, the Thunder have a legitimate chance to go back-to-back.

While the team sent Dillon Jones to the Washington Wizards to open room for first-round pick Thomas Sorber, the Thunder’s other 14 standard contract players are returning from last season. Considering the Thunder’s home success in the playoffs, they know how important the regular season is to ensure a potential Game 7 is on their home floor.

One of the key components of the Thunder’s first half of the season in 2024-25 was their rotating 15th roster spot. Over the first few months of the year, the Thunder signed a few different players to fill their final roster spot, eventually leading to Branden Carlson breaking out and inking a two-way deal later in the year.

Of course, Ajay Mitchell was converted from a two-way to fill that final spot permanently to finish the year, but the Thunder’s flexibility of having an open spot allowed for the deadline deal for Daniel Theis, who was promptly waived but netted the team a second-round pick.

Considering all of the advantages of an open roster spot, it might be worth taking that road again, but Ousmane Dieng would likely be the odd man out. Going into next season, Dieng is the only player on the 15-man roster without a clear role.

Dieng’s limited playing time throughout his first three seasons has left him in a strange position going into the final season of his rookie deal. Still, he has shown some potential and is only 22 years old.

Dieng’s chance of making his mark for the Thunder next season would likely only exist in the early stages of the season. The Thunder likely already know what they have in Dieng, but the consensus seems to be that the franchise will hand him another opportunity before moving on.

Considering the Thunder already have a stacked roster outside of Dieng, it might make sense to simply move on from him now and give him an opportunity to shine elsewhere as the team did by trading Jones. 

Dieng won’t start next season, and he likely won’t be able to crack the postseason rotation. So, for a team looking to win a championship, keeping Dieng around in the final year of his deal doesn’t make much sense.

Still, Dieng’s ideal version would be a perfect fit for the Thunder as another big forward. However, that ideal version of Dieng might not exist, and it at least seems unlikely that that version will ever shine in Oklahoma City.

Whether the Thunder’s open roster spot gets used to convert a two-way guy or something splashier like a Russell Westbrook reunion, it might be wise for Oklahoma City to open that spot, even if there isn’t an immediate plan.